Now here’s one for the ages. Trident believes not a single surfer across the globe would be able to agree on either of these; what makes a surf session either “good” or “bad”. Sure, being attacked by a prehistoric, man-eating giant fish would definitely veer towards the “bad” corner, but what happens if you’d just had the tube of your life before? Would the vice-like jaws of, uh – Jaws – clamping bloodily on your buttocks thoroughly negate the 10 second barrel you just had, with all the local crew witnessing and hooting like owls on crack? For the tube that is. One assumes after a shark attack, somebody in the lineup would help you and not just foolishly hoot.
We digress.
To be clear; Trident isn’t terribly interested in what makes a surf “okay”. What we can say though is this: the more skilled you become/are, and the more experience you gain – the more likely your standards will become higher. Yup. Your standards will become higher, as well as your own expectations.
Stoke. Enough to make a good session?
When you’ve just begun surfing, standing up in classic poo-man just-about-fall-over stance in the white water is enough to make you collapse in fits of ecstasy, your body awash with dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. Fast forward to decades of surfing later. A wobbly whitewater take off is either a mistake, something you’re forced to do in a “bad” or “okay” surf, or something you simply haven’t learned to do properly.
One of the many things that makes surfing unique is its reliance on nature. Thus, Trident continually adjusts personal expectations and standards. A 2 foot, sloppy day can be a classic “good” surf. A 4-5 foot day can end up being “bad”. Perhaps a so-called “bad” surf in otherwise decent conditions could be simply because the crowd was too much or you just surfed like someone who had their genitals stapled to their knees.
The subject of subjectivity.
Like surfing in general, bad and good surfs tend to be subjective. Just the other day, in reasonable conditions – Trident had a mediocre (at best) surf. Yet, we’ve had great surfs in firing conditions, as well as in mediocre conditions. Cast your mind back to hard lockdown. After 3 weeks of forced shore leave, every surfer in the country was frothing and gibbering for even a 2 foot onshore beachie. Good conditions do not equal good surf. Nor do bad conditions equal bad surf. Although sometimes they do. Or not. It’s all a bit confusing and subjective as hell. Surfing in a nutshell.
Perhaps it’s pointless trying to define what is a good surf or a bad surf. It’s sorta like trying to define what is good or bad music. Although unilaterally, Steve Hofmeyer is bad music. Completely objectively speaking. But Kurt Darren. Man, that oke ****in’ rocks.
